BENCHmark January 2006
How do we encourage vendor collaboration?
"Hosting the debate" is an important role for NAFEMS. As an
independent body amongst the engineering analysis community with no
vested commercial interest in any particular technical solution, we
are one of the few places where everyone involved can meet on truly
neutral territory. So it is no real surprise that fruitful and
meaningful discussions often take place during the events that we
hold. This was highly evident during a round table discussion
towards the end of the 2003 NAFEMS World Congress in Orlando, when
several large industrial players – such as Boeing and Airbus
– who are most usually to be found locked in fierce
competition with one another, joined forces to urge the different
engineering analysis software vendors to significantly improve the
ways in which data and models can be shared between different
applications. A similar theme emerged during another productive
discussion at the end of a recent seminar arranged jointly with
ESA.
Of course there are many and varied business reasons which will hinder the delivery of efficient solutions for data exchange between analysis packages. "Who owns the problem?", especially given the myriad of different software products that can be purchased. Is there a real commercial driver for a vendor to develop an excellent set of tools to convert data to the format of a competitor, and would doing so heighten the risk that his customers would find it easier to swap to an alternative package? And what of the various translators that are available to translate a model from one data deck format to another – don’t these offer a viable solution? It’s clear from the NAFEMS events that I’ve witnessed that many of the thought leaders in industry don’t think so.
At the ESA seminar, one of the issues associated with this discussion was how the agenda should be set for future software developments. Of course we live in a commercial world and so the marketplace rules supreme, but how do customers of different software products unite and make certain that they give a clear message to those that want to hear what the market wants? Perhaps this is an area where NAFEMS has more work to do.
Nevertheless, it is clear from some of the articles that we see in
this issue of BENCHmark, such as the development of tools to
simulate aquaplaning, and the report on findings of the
Multiphysics sector of FENet, that complex applications are already
benefiting from better communication between CFD and FEA packages.
These benefits could yet develop into the necessary business driver
to provide the impetus for generating improved communication
between all engineering analysis tools.
Tim Morris, Chief Executive
January 2006
NAFEMS Members and BENCHmark subscribers have already received their copy of January 2006 BENCHmark. Articles are available to NAFEMS Members to download one month after the print edition has been published.
Reconciling General FEA Codes with a Specific Analysis and Design
Requirement
Grant Steven of Strand7 discusses the added value API coding brings to simulation
Numerical Modelling of Polymer Materials for Crash Applications -
Part 1
New methodology for improving numerical simulation of polymer materials
Knowledge Base 010
Nominal and Non-linear Stresses
The Need for Continued Training in Finite Element Analysis
The case for continuous professional development
Evaluation of CFD Methods For Predicting Smoke Movement in
Enclosed Spaces
A new study provides guidelines for CFD use in the modeling of smoke movement
A Software Collaboration to Predict Aquaplaning
MSC and Numeca come together to attempt to solve a common problem.
Simulation of Low Cycle Fatigue using I-DEAS
Failure prediction in the most humble of products
FENet
Technology issues arising from the EU funded project
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